I received a letter from my insurance and a call from my Doctor's Office that I have been approved for weight loss surgery. However, I would rather have a sleeve that a lapband. Have any of you felt this way? What did you do? I do not think my insurance will cover the sleeve, only the lapband......

what is that? never heard of such a thing in weight loss surgery

I received a letter from my insurance and a call from my Doctor's Office that I have been approved for weight loss surgery. However, I would rather have a sleeve that a Lap Band. Have any of you felt this way? What did you do? I do not think my insurance will cover the sleeve, only the Lap Band......

HI Margo: Great that you got approved!!! You are so lucky to be getting this paid for!! I was a self pay (Canada) $16,000

I think the sleeve would be a good option, as its a one time permanent solution. I have the band but the fill process takes a lot of time and travel for me. I live 2 1.5 hours from the clinic where I was banded. So every 2 wks going back an forth for fills during the winter months was a real pain in the @ss.

Now, on the positive side, if ever you have some health issue in the future (& who knows what that holds?) you can be unfilled to receive full nutritian.. ie pregnancy, surgery whatever.

what is that? never heard of such a thing in weight loss surgery

The Gastric Sleeve is where they cut about 3/4 of your stomach away and discard it. you are left with a straight 'sleeve' of a stomach much smaller than you presently have. THUS, you can't put the volume of food into it and you lose weight. There is NO re-routing of you intestinal tract (which is a good thing) so you will have no malabsorbtion problems that are sometime associated with Roux-n-Y bypass. In the Bypass they cut your staple off your stomach, leaving a small pouch stomach, then they cut your intestine and reattach farther down the digestive tract... so that you don't Absorb as many calories.

All proceedures have pros and cons... depending on your BMI and where you need to go.

There is also a newer option available in Canada, the Gastric Balloon.

How much weight do you need to loose?

Thanks for the response. I weigh 223#'s. I am 5'4" tall. This is the heaviest I have ever been. I worry about the LB because I am easy to vomit (brushing teeth, etc..) I gag easily and this scares me because of slippage. I also would like the convience of not having to have fills....

my best friend is looking into the sleeve too. However, she is 150 pounds over weight. I have the same issues as you do with with the gag reflux. My surgeon has assured me that if i eat slowly, chew well, and don't drink with my meals, I should be fine. Also, something to consider is sleeving is permanate. If you have problems of issues then what??? And you can vomit just as easily with the sleeve as without (according to surgeon) and you also can have issues with dumping syndrome though it is not supposed to be as common as it is with regular bipass. Most insurance companies do not cover it since it is still "new" i think i was told it has only been out for about 5 years on the mass market.

:rolleyes2:

The Lap-Band is adjustable and is customized to be a tight as best for YOU! The sleeve is "one size fits all" and there's no turning back. While the Lap-Band is meant to be for life as well, it can certainly be removed if complications arise (which is quite rare).

Also, REALLY look at the long-term data -- same percentage of weight loss with the Lap-Band, Sleeve, and Bypass over 3 years. Why would you not go with the option that doesn't reroute your organs?

As for the fill process with the Lap-Band, it is not something to discount the surgery. If you can't handle getting fills, if that's too *inconvenient*, then perhaps you are not ready for a weight loss surgery. There will be many changes in your life, regardless of which surgical option you choose, and getting to a doc a few times for a fill is the LEAST of them! You will still have to have regular visits to your surgeon with the sleeve as well. Follow-up appointments are part of any surgery.

Please educate yourself on all the options and their LONG TERM results!

I did some research on the sleeve too... It's basically something my mom had 30 years ago... they used to call it stomach stapleing. This much I can tell you... you will be able to "out-eat" the sleeve very easily. All that's happening is that they're cutting out the excess to give you a smaller stomach. If you aren't very careful, you will regain the weight.

Sorry for the not-so-great news.:rolleyes2:

Barbara